Alien Intrusion

by Gary Bates

  Can they tell the future? Apparently not. The contactee movement is a train wreck when it comes to the reliability of future prophecies. But the lying spirits manage to deceive many by revealing secrets only known to the contactees. This is no different than the popular TV mediums who supposedly contact the dead relatives of participants, and then go on to reveal intimate personal details. Their “prophetic” words are very convincing — if you are ignorant of spiritual things. As we saw in the last chapter, dabbling in the occult is like opening a doorway to the evil side of the spiritual realm. Of course it is possible for these spirits to know intimate details of your life — once you have invited them in and they have been following and watching you very carefully in order to perpetrate the deception.

  An example of this occurs in Acts 16:16–19, where the apostle Paul encounters a person who is able to do such things. The author of Acts (a doctor by the name of Luke) writes:

  Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future [or at least claimed to]. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days.

  Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned round and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

  See how it obeyed the authority of Christ’s name spoken by a believer? But some others, who were not Christians, tried to replicate Paul’s efforts and they experienced a different outcome.

  Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” …

  One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor (Acts 19:13–17).

  Many may consider such biblical accounts, and even the practices of witchcraft and sorcery, to be remnants of primitive ideas and cultures. In the Book of Exodus 7:8–13, Moses approached Pharaoh to seek the release of the Hebrew people, and on God’s instruction, Moses threw a wooden staff to the ground and it became a snake. The book then says that Pharaoh’s sorcerers also conjured up a snake, but their efforts were overcome by God. Is this any different than the shape-shifting and illusional characteristics of UFOs in the night sky, leaving landing traces, burn marks, or even depressions in the ground?

  In talking about UFOs, researchers Ankerberg and Weldon noted:

  … it seems evident that these phenomena are produced in the same manner that other occult manipulations are produced. They involve dramatic manipulations of matter and energy. Although they originate from the spiritual world, they can produce very powerful, temporarily physical manifestations at the material level… . However the UFO is produced, it is frequently of small dimensions — an area where an extremely large amount of energy is concentrated.[20]

  “We’re all brothers” — the “many-ways-to-God” idea

  The modern New Age/UFO movement is happy to embrace those of other religious persuasions. It has roots in Buddhism, Shintoism (Japan is a UFO-mad society), Hinduism, Taoism, Animism, and most other mystical religions that are steeped in the worship of spirits, deities, dead ancestors or reincarnated ones, and even the heavenly bodies. Christians are embraced, too, providing they are not too dogmatic about their faith and don’t mind a reinterpretation of the Bible here and there.

  Notice what happened in an interesting account of a young Israeli king by the name of Manasseh, who departed from his father’s practice of worshiping the one true Creator. In 2 Kings 21:3–6, we see:

  He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah [remember Ashtar] pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshipped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger [emphases added].

  Notice that Manasseh led his people astray. They followed their leader in a manner similar to those who follow cult leaders today. Also note that the passage clearly relates the worship of false gods (Baal and Asherah) with the “starry hosts” (or the hosts of heaven) and with the practices of witchcraft, divination, and spiritism. God makes no distinction among these practices. They are one and the same, and evil in his sight.

  God gave another clear command:

  You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above… .You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me (Exod. 20:3–5).

  God viewed this so seriously that He made it one of the Ten Commandments. He was not being egocentric. This warning was, and is, for our own good. Note how the warning passes on to the next generation. This is strikingly similar to what occurs in the UFO and abduction cases in which several generations of family members appear to be afflicted — until the cycle is broken in the name of Christ. Lifelong UFOlogist, and author of some of the biggest-selling UFO research books of all time, John Keel, says:

  Millions of people have been affected at least temporarily by UFO contact, [and] thousands have gone insane and ended up in mental institutions after their experiences with these things began.[21]

  Such problems help to explain why God is not tolerant of the worship of other beings, which He created (Rom. 1:25). True Christianity, which claims to be solely based on the teachings of the Bible, cannot, by definition, be all-embracing like the New Age movement. The Bible expresses intolerance of other religions because they keep people away from the truth of the Bible and its way of knowing and worshiping the one true God. We have already noted that many ancient Eastern religions, which involve spirit worship, are very open to these UFO experiences. But there is a link to the UFO/deceptive contact phenomenon in many other major religions as well, often at a foundational level.

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), with nearly eight million members worldwide, was founded by Joseph Smith after his contact with an angelic being. Bill Alnor writes:

  In 1823, in an era when more people believed in angels than visitors from space, an “angel” named Moroni allegedly appeared at Smith’s bedside in upper New York state and recommissioned him as a prophet to launch a new dispensation of Christianity that would restore the apostate church. In 1820, Smith allegedly received a vision claiming that he was God’s new prophet.[22]

  Note how the entity appeared to be representing God with “pure and honest” motives. No wonder that Mormons, like alien contactees, are not very open to traditional Christian claims about the truth. They find it hard to believe that they were manipulated by something appearing so “good.”

  Alnor also writes about James Walker, an ex-Mormon (fourth-generation), who says that Mormons actually believe God used to be a man named Elohim who lived on a planet named Kolab. He was eventually allowed to become one of the gods and marry numerous goddesses, and we are their resultant offspring. By joining the Mormon Church and obeying the church’s secret rituals, followers will have a chance of godhood, too, on another planet somewhere. In addition, Smith believed that the moon was inhabited and that he would preach his go
spel there someday (now who gave him that incorrect prophecy?).[23] Joseph Smith’s encounter was with a being called “Moroni” (supposedly a good angel) which selected him for a special mission. Over the years, thousands of contactees and abductees have been told a similar thing — “You have been chosen.” The Mormons even have an “extra Bible” — their own “holy” writings known as the Book of Mormon.

  The Islamic religion also appears to have its origins in a visitor experience. In a.d. 610, after six months of spiritual meditation in a cave, Mohammed claimed that the angel Gabriel appeared to him. After many years of visitations, Mohammed recited to his band of followers the words he claimed to have heard, much of which came after visions and trances (some of his own contemporaries actually thought he was demon possessed). Some of these pronouncements were memorized and some were written on animal bones, parchments, and pieces of leather. It is claimed that about 15 years after his death, these writings were authorized and compiled into Islam’s holy book, the Quran.[24]

  Although the good angel Gabriel is mentioned in the Bible, it does not necessarily follow that it was the real Gabriel that appeared to Mohammed. (Remember, people have claimed that the beings appearing to them on spaceships have sometimes called themselves Jesus, too.) It makes no sense that one of God’s faithful angels (the one who appeared to the virgin Mary, no less) would provide new revelation that reinterprets the Bible and denies the deity of Jesus. The Bible makes no mention of, and in fact warns about, any extra instruction other than what is already written in the Bible. In Luke 1:32, 35, Gabriel twice says Jesus is God’s Son, but the Quran’s Gabriel says that Jesus is an ordinary man, although a prophet, and not God’s son. Both cannot be true.

  See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

  If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 12:32–13:1–3).

  This is incredible. Here is a warning from the Old Testament against being impressed by supernatural manifestations, and the New Testament offers an even more direct warning about listening to angels:

  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (Gal. 1:8).

  Although Muslims follow Allah (which is Arabic for God), who they claim is the same as the God of the Bible, many religious commentators believe that there is abundant evidence, historically and archaeologically, that the name Allah is derived from the name “al-ilah.” They claim that this is the Moon god who was married to the goddess of the sun, and the stars were their daughters. They also believe that the worship of these deities was common in pre-Islamic times throughout the Middle East and Arabia. Many dispute this, although it is interesting that statues and artifacts from archaeological discoveries suggest that the famous crescent, which is representative of Islam, was derived from this occultic source.[25]

  Louis Farrakhan, the popular leader of the Nation of Islam movement founded in the United States, was a former UFO contactee, according to a popular American newspaper (the Washington Post, September 18, 1995, p. D3). As a young man, he was taken aboard a UFO where he met “Master Elijah Muhammed” (the former Nation of Islam leader, then deceased), the builder of the ship.[26] Although not widely reported, Farrakhan and his followers apparently believe that Armageddon is coming and that the spaceships will return again someday. He and his Nation of Islam group were the organizers of the Million Man March that took place in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1990s.[27]Elijah Muhammad’s widow, Mother Tynetta, also predicted that 2001 would be the “Year of the End” (Armageddon), citing UFOs seen in the vicinity of the September 11 (2001) destruction of the World Trade Center in New York.[28]

  The “doctrines of demons”

  In 1 Timothy 4:1, the Bible says:

  The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

  Besides the religions that have their origins in the dubious “you are the chosen one” experiences of their leaders, there are many other religious movements based on science fiction and UFO/New Age beliefs. At the head of most of these is a charismatic leader who has had a vision, visitation, or message delivered in a manner that says they have been selected for a mission. The more modern UFO-based movements are often referred to as UFO cults. For example, they often refer to their leaders as the Messiah, including the Raelians (mentioned in chapter 1),

  whose leader is Rael (a.k.a. former French motorsport journalist Claude Vorhillon).

  This infamous group believes that they can awaken the mind, body, and spirit through the pleasures of the flesh. Mass orgies are common at their “spiritual retreat,” which doubles as an alien theme park in Florida. Rael (his name is supposed to mean “messenger”) claims to have met Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha on a flying saucer. His “given” mission is to build an embassy near Jerusalem in readiness for the return of our alien creators to Earth.[29] He could be a fraud or a self-deluded madman — or both. Who knows? But it is no joke — the Raelians’ following is increasing at an astonishing rate.

  One of the trendiest cults around is the Church of Scientology. Founded by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, its beliefs could have come straight out of one of his novels. Some have said that his ideas were birthed from those of the world’s most famous self-declared Satanist, Aleister Crowley. A New York Post article, reporting on investigations by a Boston University researcher, claimed:

  Hubbard had met Crowley in the latter’s Los Angeles temple in 1945… . Hubbard’s son reveals that Hubbard claimed to be Crowley’s successor: Hubbard told him that Scientology was born on the day that Crowley died… . Scientologists perform some of the same rites that Crowley invented, all designed to free practitioners from human guilt.[30]

  Crowley was often described as the “wickedest man on Earth.” He even called himself the “Great Beast” of 666, after the description of the devil contained in the Bible’s Book of Revelation. Believing that guilt or remorse were to be done away with, he openly used hallucinogenic drugs and advocated complete sexual freedom, including bestiality. Some modern pop stars have made not-so-subtle references to Crowley in their songs, advocating his practices.[31]

  So how did these practices form part of a UFO-based religion? Hubbard claimed that “Thetans” or gods — uncreated and eternal beings that were free from all laws — populated the universe. These Thetans gathered together to create time, space, and energy (our creators, once again). However, they were banished to Earth by an evil galactic ruler named Xenu, where they now inhabit the bodies of humans. They were originally incarnated into plants and animals but, through the process of evolution, became humans (another example of how evolutionary ideology is woven into the tales of the deceiving space brothers).

  To attain a higher spiritual level in Scientology it is necessary to have these Thetans released from your body. They are currently “negative” spirits because they have been asleep inside of humans for countless millennia. There is a cost for this process, believed to be in the range of two to four hundred thousand dollars. To determine your body’s level of Thetans, they supposedly use electronic gadgets known as “e-meters.”[32] In a well-known statement, Hubbard was supposed to have said:

  Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.[33]

  This is exactly what he did. The Church of Scientology is extremely wealthy, and no wonder, because it boasts some Hollywood “royalty” as adherents. They include actors Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Lisa Marie Presley, Hilary Swan
k, Juliette Lewis, Jenna Elfman, and Kirstie Alley. Such revered icons unfortunately give this cult an undeserved air of respectability. Some families have lost children to this group, with the children subsequently becoming even unwilling to relate to their once-loving kin. Distraught families often claim brainwashing and mind-control techniques have been used upon their children and other members. Some countries, such as Germany, are presently trying to outlaw this cult.

  It may surprise some to know that groups such as the Aum Supreme Truth sect (Aum Shinrikyo) also have some “spaced-out” beliefs. This was the group responsible for the deadly sarin gas attack in a Tokyo subway, which killed 12 people and afflicted 5,500 others. Once again, it is staggering how ordinary folk are drawn to such lunacy. At their zenith, the cult had 40,000 followers. The cult’s leader, Shoko Asahara, also declared himself to be Christ. On one occasion, a rally drew 19,000 people to Moscow’s Olympic Stadium. A huge video screen played images of Asahara being crucified in Christ-like manner.[34]

  Asahara thought he was the one “chosen” to be the savior of the world. He also claims he received a message from God while on a Himalayan retreat in 1986. But his ideas come straight out of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of novels, in which a select group of brilliant individuals formed a secret society to save mankind and control the future. Asahara’s murderous attack on innocent people was designed to hasten Armageddon, and bring the world into a state of chaos, opening the door for his rise to power. But he and most of his followers are now in jail. It would be fair to say that he obviously did not hear from the real omniscient God; otherwise, the prophecies and his plans would have come to pass.